System and method for determining liveness

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for recording a user&#39;s biometric features and generating an identifier representative of the user&#39;s biometric features and whether the user is alive (“liveness”) using mobile devices such as a smartphone. The systems and methods described herein enable a series of operations whereby a user using a mobile device can capture imagery of a user&#39;s face, eyes and periocular region. The mobile device is also configured analyze the imagery to identify and determine the position of low-level features spatially within the images and the changes in position of the low level features dynamically throughout the images. Using the spatial and dynamic information the mobile device is further configured to determine whether the user is alive and/or generate a biometric identifier characterizing the user&#39;s biometric features which can be used to authenticate the user by determining liveness and/or verify the user&#39;s identity.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to and includes U.S. PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/822,746, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORPROVIDING BIOMETRICALLY AUTHENTICATED ACCESS USING MOBILE DEVICES” filedMay 13, 2013; U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/842,800, entitled“SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING BIOMETRICALLY AUTHENTICATED ACCESSUSING MOBILE DEVICES” filed Jul. 3, 2013; U.S. Patent Application Ser.No. 61/842,739, entitled “SECURE BACK-END ARCHITECTURE SYSTEM ANDMETHOD” filed Jul. 3, 2013; U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/842,757,entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING A BIOMETRIC IDENTIFIER” filedJul. 3, 2013; U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/842,756, entitled“SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING LIVENESS” filed Jul. 3, 2013; U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/921,004, entitled “SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR DETERMINING LIVENESS” filed Dec. 26, 2013; U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 61/920,985, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORGENERATING A BIOMETRIC IDENTIFIER” filed Dec. 26, 2013; U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 61/922,438, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORBIOMETRIC PROTOCOL STANDARDS” filed Dec. 31, 2013; U.S. PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/924,092, entitled “SECURE BACK-END ARCHITECTURESYSTEM AND METHOD” filed Jan. 6, 2014; U.S. Patent Application Ser. No.61/924,097, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SMARTPHONE SECURITY CASE”filed Jan. 6, 2014; U.S. patent application Ser. No. TBA [AttorneyDocket No. 10141/003432-US2], entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATINGA BIOMETRIC IDENTIFIER” filed on even date herewith; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. TBA [Attorney Docket No. 10141/003353-US3],entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATION OFTRANSACTIONS” filed on even date herewith, which are each herebyincorporated by reference as if set forth in their respective entiretiesherein.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for capturing andcharacterizing biometric features, in particular, systems and methodsfor capturing and characterizing facial biometric features using amobile device for the purposes of identifying or authenticating a user.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As a biometric is a biological characteristic (such as a fingerprint,the geometry of a hand, Retina pattern, iris shape, etc.) of anindividual, biometric techniques can be used as an additionalverification factor since biometrics are usually more difficult toobtain than other non-biometric credentials. Biometrics can be used foridentification and/or authentication (also referred to as identityassertion and/or verification).

Biometric identity assertion can require a certain level of security asdictated by the application. For example, authentication in connectionwith a financial transaction or gaining access to a secure locationrequires higher security levels. As a result, preferably, the accuracyof the biometric representation of a user is sufficient to ensure thatthe user is accurately authenticated and security is maintained.However, to the extent iris, face, finger, and voice identity assertionsystems exist and provide the requisite level of accuracy, such systemsrequire dedicated devices and applications and are not easilyimplemented on conventional smartphones, which have limited cameraresolution and light emitting capabilities.

The challenges surrounding traditional biometric feature capturetechniques, which generally require high resolution imagery,multi-spectral lighting and significant computing power to execute theexisting image analysis algorithms to achieve the requisite accuracydictated by security have made biometric authentication not widelyavailable or accessible to the masses. Moreover, traditional biometricauthentication techniques requiring dedicated devices used in a specificway (e.g., require a cooperative subject, have a narrow field of view,biometric must be obtained in a specific way) detracts from userconvenience and wide-scale implementation.

Additional challenges surrounding traditional biometric authenticationtechniques involve unauthorized access by users who leveragevulnerabilities of facial recognition programs to cause erroneousauthentication. For example, an unauthorized user may attempt to unlocka computing device using “spoofing” techniques. To cause erroneousauthentication by spoofing, an unauthorized user may present a facialimage of an authorized user for capture by the computing device. Forexample, an unauthorized user may present to the device a printedpicture of the authorized user's face or obtain a video or digital imageof an authorized user on a second computing device (e.g., by pulling upan authorized user's profile picture from a social networking website).Thus, an unauthorized user may attempt to use spoofing methods to gainaccess to functionalities of the computing device or to authenticatetransactions fraudulently.

Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods with which a user'sidentity can be verified conveniently, seamlessly, and with a sufficientdegree of accuracy, from biometric information captured from the userusing readily available smartphones. In addition, what is needed areidentity assertion systems and methods that, preferably, are not relianton multi-spectral imaging devices, multi-spectral light emitters, highresolution cameras, or multiple user inputs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Technologies are presented herein in support of a system and method forauthorizing a user in connection with a transaction at a transactionterminal.

According to a first aspect, the method for authenticating a useraccording to the user's biometric features includes the steps ofcausing, by a mobile device having a camera, a storage medium havinginstructions stored therein and a processor configured by executing theinstructions therein, the camera to capture a plurality of imagesdepicting at least one facial region of the user. Using the plurality ofimages, the mobile device processor detects low-level features depictedin a first image of the plurality of images. In addition, the mobiledevice processor determines a position of a first low-level featurerelative to a respective position of one or more other low-levelfeatures. In addition, the method includes determining, by the mobiledevice processor, at least one second position of the first low-levelfeature in at least one other image. Using the identified positions, themobile device processor calculates changes in position of the firstlow-level feature. The method also includes, determining that the firstlow-level feature represents a live biometric feature of the user andthereby indicates liveness of the user as a function of the position ofthe first low-level feature depicted in the first image and thecalculated changes in position of the first low-level feature. Inaddition, the method includes, authenticating the user according todetermining that the first low-level feature indicates liveness of theuser.

According to another aspect, a system is provided for authenticating auser according to the user's biometric features. The system includes oneor more processors configured to interact with a camera, a communicationinterface and a computer-readable storage medium and execute one or moresoftware modules stored on the storage medium. The software modulesinclude a biometric capture module that, when executed by the processor,configures the processor to cause a camera in communication with theprocessor to capture a plurality of images, wherein the plurality ofimages depict at least one facial region of the user. The modules alsoinclude an analysis module that, when executed by the processor,configures the processor to detect low-level features depicted in afirst image of the plurality of images, determine a position of thefirst low-level feature relative to at least one other low-levelfeature, determine at least one second position of the first low-levelfeature in at least one other image, calculate changes in position ofthe first low-level feature, determine that the first low-level featurerepresents a live biometric feature and thereby indicates liveness ofthe user as a function of the first position of the first low-levelfeature and the calculated changes in position of the first low-levelfeature. The software modules also include a biometric authenticationmodule that, when executed by the processor, configures the processor toauthenticate the user according to determining that the first low-levelfeature indicates liveness of the user.

These and other aspects, features, and advantages can be appreciatedfrom the accompanying description of certain embodiments of theinvention and the accompanying drawing figures and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a high-level diagram of a computer system for authenticating auser according to the user's biometric features in accordance with atleast one embodiment disclosed herein;

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a computer system for authenticating auser according to the user's biometric features in accordance with atleast one embodiment disclosed herein;

FIG. 2B is a block diagram of software modules for authenticating a useraccording to the user's biometric features in accordance with at leastone embodiment disclosed herein;

FIG. 2C is a block diagram of a computer system for authenticating auser according to the user's biometric features in accordance with atleast one embodiment disclosed herein;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing a routine for generating a biometricidentifier according to the user's biometric features in accordance withat least one embodiment disclosed herein;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing a routine for enrolling a user inaccordance with at least one embodiment disclosed herein;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing a routine for authenticating a useraccording to the user's biometric features in accordance with at leastone embodiment disclosed herein;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a computer system for authenticating a useraccording to the user's biometric features in accordance with at leastone embodiment disclosed herein; and

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing a routine for authenticating a useraccording to the user's biometric features in accordance with at leastone embodiment disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

By way of example only and for the purpose of overview and introduction,embodiments of the present invention are described below which concern asystem and method for capturing a user's biometric features andgenerating an identifier characterizing the user's biometric featuresusing a mobile device such as a smartphone. The biometric identifier ispreferably generated for the purposes of determining the user's livenessaccording to the biometric identifier.

In some implementations, the system includes a cloud based system serverplatform that communicates with fixed PC's, servers, and devices such aslaptops, tablets and smartphones operated by users. As the user attemptsto access a networked environment that is access controlled, forexample, a website which requires a secure login, the user is promptedto authenticate using the user's preregistered mobile device.Authentication can include verifying the user's identity and/orverifying that the user is alive (e.g., determining liveness) bycapturing biometric information in the form of at least images of theuser's eyes, periocular region and face or any combination of theforegoing (collectively referred to as the Vitruvian region), extractingunique features and encoding the features as a biometric identifier thatis indicative of the user's biometric features and/or liveness using themobile device. Accordingly, the users liveness can be verified by themobile device and/or the system server or a combination of the foregoingby analyzing the biometric identifier and/or comparing the biometricidentifier to a biometric identifier generated during the user's initialenrollment with the system.

According to a salient aspect of the subject application, capturingimages for the purpose of identifying a user's Vitruvian biometricfeatures can be performed using conventional digital cameras that arefound on smart phones and other such mobile devices. In addition,identifying Vitruvian biometric features can be performed according topositive eye authentication techniques, preferably, applying algorithmsanalyzing the iris and/or periocular regions and/or face withoutrequiring infra-red images or IR emitters which are not widelyintegrated in smartphones.

According to a salient aspect of the subject application, biometricfeatures from the user's iris, periocular and/or facial regions can beextracted concurrently and seamlessly from common image captures (e.g.,the same image frames and same sequence of image frames captured),whereas, current identification techniques extract iris features fromcertain image frames and periocular features from other image frames.Moreover, according to another salient aspect of the subjectapplication, Vitruvian biometric features are identified and definedaccording to the spatial relationship of features (“keypoints”) withinframes and the dynamic movement or position (“flow”) of those keypointsthroughout a temporally arranged sequence of frames, so as to seamlesslygenerate an integrated biometric identifier characterizing the user'sVitruvian region. The resulting integrated biometric identified is asingle, virtual representation of the user's Vitruvian region, asopposed to, independently generating a plurality of separate biometricidentifiers (e.g., one for the iris, another for the periocular region)that are later fused.

The present disclosure also describes additional techniques forpreventing erroneous authentication caused by spoofing. In someexamples, the anti-spoofing techniques may include capturing multiplefacial images of a user, and analyzing the facial images for indicationsof liveness. A salient aspect of the subject application is that theprocess for generating a biometric identifier that is useable toidentify the user and includes information relating to the dynamicmovement of keypoints can also be used to determine liveness. Forexample, the biometric identifier can be generated to represent theuser's liveness (“liveness vector”) or can represent the user'sbiometric features and determining liveness. Accordingly, using thebiometric identifier, the disclosed system can authenticate the user'sidentity and/or determine “liveness” (e.g., whether the image sequenceis of living person) and detect suspected attempts to spoof by comparingthe dynamic movement of a current biometric identifier to a previouslygenerated biometric identifier. In addition, liveness may be determinedfrom analysis of the dynamic movement of low-level Vitruvian features todetermine if the flow is representative of continuous motion. Livenesscan also be indicated by the movement of intermediate level featuressuch as the eyes, mouth, and other portions of the face. Suchanti-spoofing programs may, in various implementations, detect facialmovement based on specific areas of the human face. For example, theanti-spoofing programs may identify one or both eyes of the facial imageas landmarks. The anti-spoofing programs may then detect and analyzetransitions between the images as relates to one or both eyes. Using anydetected transitions, the anti-spoofing programs may detect facialgestures such as a blink, and the like. Based on the analysis and thedetection of a satisfactory liveness vector, the liveness determinationprograms may prevent or grant access to functionalities controlled bythe computing device.

An exemplary system for determining the user's liveness according to theuser's biometric features 100 is shown as a block diagram in FIG. 1. Inone arrangement, the system consists of a system server 105 and userdevices including a mobile device 101 a and a user computing device 101b. The system 100 can also include one or more remote computing devices102.

The system server 105 can be practically any computing device and/ordata processing apparatus capable of communicating with the user devicesand remote computing devices and receiving, transmitting and storingelectronic information and processing requests as further describedherein. Similarly, the remote computing device 102 can be practicallyany computing device and/or data processing apparatus capable ofcommunicating with the system server and/or the user devices andreceiving, transmitting and storing electronic information andprocessing requests as further described herein. It should also beunderstood that the system server and/or remote computing device can bea number of networked or cloud based computing devices.

In some implementations, computing device 102 can be associated with anenterprise organization, for example, a bank or a website, that maintainuser accounts (“enterprise accounts”) and provide services to enterpriseaccount holders and require authentication of the user prior toproviding the user access to such systems and services.

The user devices, mobile device 101 a and user computing device 101 b,can be configured to communicate with one another, the system server 105and/or remote computing device 102, transmitting electronic informationthereto and receiving electronic information therefrom as furtherdescribed herein. The user devices can also be configured to receiveuser inputs as well as capture and process biometric information, forexample, digital images and voice recordings of a user 124.

The mobile device 101 a can be any mobile computing devices and/or dataprocessing apparatus capable of embodying the systems and/or methodsdescribed herein, including but not limited to a personal computer,tablet computer, personal digital assistant, mobile electronic device,cellular telephone or smart phone device and the like. The computingdevice 101 b is intended to represent various forms of computing devicesthat a user can interact with, such as workstations, a personalcomputer, laptop computer, dedicated point-of-sale systems, ATMterminals, access control devices or other appropriate digitalcomputers.

As further described herein, the system for authenticating a useraccording to the user's biometric features 100, facilitates theauthentication of a user 124 according to a user's biometric featuresusing a mobile device 101 a. In some implementations, identificationand/or authentication according to a user's biometric features utilizesa user's biometric information in a two stage process. The first stageis referred to as enrollment. In the enrollment stage samples (e.g.,images) of appropriate biometric(s) is/are collected from an individual.These samples of biometrics are analyzed and processed to extractfeatures (or characteristics) present in each sample. The set offeatures present in the biometric of an individual constitutes anidentifier for the person and indicate whether the user is a livesubject. These identifiers are then stored to complete the enrolmentstage. In the second stage the same biometric of the individual ismeasured. Features from this biometric are extracted just like in theenrollment phase to obtain a current biometric identifier. If the goalis determining liveness, the features or characteristics can be analyzedto determine if they are representative of a live subject. If the goalis identification, then this identifier is searched for in the databaseof identifiers generated in the first phase. If a match occurs, theidentification of the individual is revealed, otherwise identificationfails. If the goal is authentication, then the identifier generated inthe second stage is compared with the identifier generated in the firststage for the particular person. If a match occurs, authentication issuccessful, otherwise authentication fails.

It should be noted that while FIG. 1 depicts the system forauthenticating a user according to the user's biometric features 100with respect to a mobile device 101 a and a user computing device 101 band a remote computing device 102, it should be understood that anynumber of such devices can interact with the system in the mannerdescribed herein. It should also be noted that while FIG. 1 depicts asystem for authenticating a user according to the user's biometricfeatures 100 with respect to the user 124, it should be understood thatany number of users can interact with the system in the manner describedherein.

It should be further understood that while the various computing devicesand machines referenced herein, including but not limited to mobiledevice 101 a and system server 105 and remote computing device 102 arereferred to herein as individual/single devices and/or machines, incertain implementations the referenced devices and machines, and theirassociated and/or accompanying operations, features, and/orfunctionalities can be combined or arranged or otherwise employed acrossany number of such devices and/or machines, such as over a networkconnection or wired connection, as is known to those of skill in theart.

It should also be understood that the exemplary systems and methodsdescribed herein in the context of the mobile device 101 a are notspecifically limited to the mobile device and can be implemented usingother enabled computing devices (e.g., the user computing device 102 b).

In reference to FIG. 2A, mobile device 101 a of the system 100, includesvarious hardware and software components that serve to enable operationof the system, including one or more processors 110, a memory 120, amicrophone 125, a display 140, a camera 145, an audio output 155, astorage 190 and a communication interface 150. Processor 110 serves toexecute a client application in the form of software instructions thatcan be loaded into memory 120. Processor 110 can be a number ofprocessors, a central processing unit CPU, a graphics processing unitGPU, a multi-processor core, or any other type of processor, dependingon the particular implementation.

Preferably, the memory 120 and/or the storage 190 are accessible by theprocessor 110, thereby enabling the processor to receive and executeinstructions encoded in the memory and/or on the storage so as to causethe mobile device and its various hardware components to carry outoperations for aspects of the systems and methods as will be describedin greater detail below. Memory can be, for example, a random accessmemory (RAM) or any other suitable volatile or non-volatile computerreadable storage medium. In addition, the memory can be fixed orremovable. The storage 190 can take various forms, depending on theparticular implementation. For example, the storage can contain one ormore components or devices such as a hard drive, a flash memory, arewritable optical disk, a rewritable magnetic tape, or some combinationof the above. Storage also can be fixed or removable.

One or more software modules 130 are encoded in the storage 190 and/orin the memory 120. The software modules 130 can comprise one or moresoftware programs or applications having computer program code or a setof instructions (referred to as the “mobile authentication clientapplication”) executed in the processor 110. As depicted in FIG. 2B,preferably, included among the software modules 130 is a user interfacemodule 170, a biometric capture module 172, an analysis module 174, anenrollment module 176, a database module 178, an authentication module180 and a communication module 182 that are executed by processor 110.Such computer program code or instructions configure the processor 110to carry out operations of the systems and methods disclosed herein andcan be written in any combination of one or more programming languages.

The program code can execute entirely on mobile device 101, as astand-alone software package, partly on mobile device, partly on systemserver 105, or entirely on system server or another remotecomputer/device. In the latter scenario, the remote computer can beconnected to mobile device 101 through any type of network, including alocal area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), mobilecommunications network, cellular network, or the connection can be madeto an external computer (for example, through the Internet using anInternet Service Provider).

It can also be said that the program code of software modules 130 andone or more computer readable storage devices (such as memory 120 and/orstorage 190) form a computer program product that can be manufacturedand/or distributed in accordance with the present invention, as is knownto those of ordinary skill in the art.

It should be understood that in some illustrative embodiments, one ormore of the software modules 130 can be downloaded over a network tostorage 190 from another device or system via communication interface150 for use within the system for biometric authentication 100. Inaddition, it should be noted that other information and/or data relevantto the operation of the present systems and methods (such as database185) can also be stored on storage. Preferably, such information isstored on an encrypted data-store that is specifically allocated so asto securely store information collected or generated by the processorexecuting the secure authentication application. Preferably, encryptionmeasures are used to store the information locally on the mobile devicestorage and transmit information to the system server 105. For example,such data can be encrypted using a 1024 bit polymorphic cipher, or,depending on the export controls, an AES 256 bit encryption method.Furthermore, encryption can be performed using remote key (seeds) orlocal keys (seeds). Alternative encryption methods can be used as wouldbe understood by those skilled in the art, for example, SHA256.

In addition, data stored on the mobile device 101 a and/or system server105 can be encrypted using a user's biometric information, livenessinformation, or mobile device information as an encryption key. In someimplementations, a combination of the foregoing can be used to create acomplex unique key for the user that can be encrypted on the mobiledevice using Elliptic Curve Cryptography, preferably at least 384 bitsin length. In addition, that key can be used to secure the user datastored on the mobile device and/or the system server.

Also preferably stored on storage 190 is database 185. As will bedescribed in greater detail below, the database contains and/ormaintains various data items and elements that are utilized throughoutthe various operations of the system and method for authenticating auser 100. The information stored in database can include but is notlimited to a user profile, as will be described in greater detailherein. It should be noted that although database is depicted as beingconfigured locally to mobile device 101 a, in certain implementationsthe database and/or various of the data elements stored therein can, inaddition or alternatively, be located remotely (such as on a remotedevice 102 or system server 105—not shown) and connected to mobiledevice through a network in a manner known to those of ordinary skill inthe art.

A user interface 115 is also operatively connected to the processor. Theinterface can be one or more input or output device(s) such asswitch(es), button(s), key(s), a touch-screen, microphone, etc. as wouldbe understood in the art of electronic computing devices. User Interfaceserves to facilitate the capture of commands from the user such as anon-off commands or user information and settings related to operation ofthe system for authenticating a user 100. For example, interface servesto facilitate the capture of certain information from the mobile device101 such as personal user information for enrolling with the system soas to create a user profile.

The computing device 101 a can also include a display 140 which is alsooperatively connected to processor the processor 110. The displayincludes a screen or any other such presentation device which enablesthe system to instruct or otherwise provide feedback to the userregarding the operation of the system for authenticating a user 100. Byway of example, the display can be a digital display such as a dotmatrix display or other 2-dimensional display.

By way of further example, the interface and the display can beintegrated into a touch screen display. Accordingly, the display is alsoused to show a graphical user interface, which can display various dataand provide “forms” that include fields that allow for the entry ofinformation by the user. Touching the touch screen at locationscorresponding to the display of a graphical user interface allows theperson to interact with the device to enter data, change settings,control functions, etc. So, when the touch screen is touched, userinterface communicates this change to processor, and settings can bechanged or user entered information can be captured and stored in thememory.

Mobile device 101 a also includes a camera 145 capable of capturingdigital images. The camera can be one or more imaging devices configuredto capture images of at least a portion of the user's body including theuser's eyes and/or face while utilizing the mobile device 101 a. Thecamera serves to facilitate the capture of images of the user for thepurpose of image analysis by the mobile device processor executing thesecure authentication application which includes identifying biometricfeatures for (biometrically) authenticating the user from the images anddetermining the user's liveness. The mobile device 101 a and/or thecamera 145 can also include one or more light or signal emitters (notshown) for example, a visible light emitter and/or infra-red lightemitter and the like. The camera can be integrated into the mobiledevice, such as a front-facing camera or rear facing camera thatincorporates a sensor, for example and without limitation a CCD or CMOSsensor. Alternatively, the camera can be external to the mobile device101 a. The possible variations of the camera and light emitters would beunderstood by those skilled in the art. In addition, the mobile devicecan also include one or more microphones 104 for capturing audiorecordings as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

Audio output 155 is also operatively connected to the processor 110.Audio output can be any type of speaker system that is configured toplay electronic audio files as would be understood by those skilled inthe art. Audio output can be integrated into the mobile device 101 orexternal to the mobile device 101.

Various hardware devices/sensors 160 are also operatively connected tothe processor. The sensors 160 can include: an on-board clock to tracktime of day, etc.; a GPS enabled device to determine a location of themobile device; an accelerometer to track the orientation andacceleration of the mobile device; Gravity magnetometer to detect theEarth's magnetic field to determine the 3-dimensional orientation of themobile device; proximity sensors to detect a distance between the mobiledevice and other objects; RF radiation sensors to detect the REradiation levels; and other such devices as would be understood by thoseskilled in the art.

Communication interface 150 is also operatively connected to theprocessor 110 and can be any interface that enables communicationbetween the mobile device 101 a and external devices, machines and/orelements including system server 105. Preferably, communicationinterface includes, but is not limited to, a modem, a Network InterfaceCard (NIC), an integrated network interface, a radio frequencytransmitter/receiver (e.g., Bluetooth, cellular, NEC), a satellitecommunication transmitter/receiver, an infrared port, a USB connection,and/or any other such interfaces for connecting the mobile device toother computing devices and/or communication networks such as privatenetworks and the Internet. Such connections can include a wiredconnection or a wireless connection (e.g. using the 802.11 standard)though it should be understood that communication interface can bepractically any interface that enables communication to/from the mobiledevice.

At various points during the operation of the system for authenticatinga user conducting a financial transaction 100, the mobile device 101 acan communicate with one or more computing devices, such as systemserver 105, user computing device 101 b and/or remote computing device102. Such computing devices transmit and/or receive data to/from mobiledevice 101 a, thereby preferably initiating maintaining, and/orenhancing the operation of the system 100, as will be described ingreater detail below.

FIG. 2C is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration ofsystem server 105. System server 105 can include a processor 210 whichis operatively connected to various hardware and software componentsthat serve to enable operation of the system for facilitating secureauthentication of transactions at a terminal 100. The processor 210serves to execute instructions to perform various operations relating touser authentication and transaction processing as will be described ingreater detail below. The processor 210 can be a number of processors, amulti-processor core, or some other type of processor, depending on theparticular implementation.

In certain implementations, a memory 220 and/or a storage medium 290 areaccessible by the processor 210, thereby enabling the processor 210 toreceive and execute instructions stored on the memory 220 and/or on thestorage 290. The memory 220 can be, for example, a random access memory(RAM) or any other suitable volatile or non-volatile computer readablestorage medium. In addition, the memory 220 can be fixed or removable.The storage 290 can take various forms, depending on the particularimplementation. For example, the storage 290 can contain one or morecomponents or devices such as a hard drive, a flash memory, a rewritableoptical disk, a rewritable magnetic tape, or some combination of theabove. The storage 290 also can be fixed or removable.

One or more software modules 130 are encoded in the storage 290 and/orin the memory 220. The software modules 130 can comprise one or moresoftware programs or applications (collectively referred to as the“secure authentication server application”) having computer program codeor a set of instructions executed in the processor 210. Such computerprogram code or instructions for carrying out operations for aspects ofthe systems and methods disclosed herein can be written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, as would be understoodby those skilled in the art. The program code can execute entirely onthe system server 105 as a stand-alone software package, partly on thesystem server 105 and partly on a remote computing device, such as aremote computing device 102, mobile device 101 a and/or user computingdevice 101 b, or entirely on such remote computing devices. As depictedin FIG. 2B, preferably, included among the software modules 130 are ananalysis module 274, an enrollment module 276, an authentication module280, a database module 278, and a communication module 282, that areexecuted by the system server's processor 210.

Also preferably stored on the storage 290 is a database 280. As will bedescribed in greater detail below, the database 280 contains and/ormaintains various data items and elements that are utilized throughoutthe various operations of the system 100, including but not limited to,user profiles as will be described in greater detail herein. It shouldbe noted that although the database 280 is depicted as being configuredlocally to the computing device 205, in certain implementations thedatabase 280 and/or various of the data elements stored therein can bestored on a computer readable memory or storage medium that is locatedremotely and connected to the system server 105 through a network (notshown), in a manner known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

A communication interface 255 is also operatively connected to theprocessor 210. The communication interface 255 can be any interface thatenables communication between the system server 105 and externaldevices, machines and/or elements. In certain implementations, thecommunication interface 255 includes, but is not limited to, a modem, aNetwork Interface Card (NIC), an integrated network interface, a radiofrequency transmitter/receiver (e.g., Bluetooth, cellular, NFC), asatellite communication transmitter/receiver, an infrared port, a USBconnection, and/or any other such interfaces for connecting thecomputing device 205 to other computing devices and/or communicationnetworks, such as private networks and the Internet. Such connectionscan include a wired connection or a wireless connection (e.g., using the802.11 standard) though it should be understood that communicationinterface 255 can be practically any interface that enablescommunication to/from the processor 210.

The operation of the system for authenticating a user according to theuser's biometric features 100 and the various elements and componentsdescribed above will be further appreciated with reference to the methodfor facilitating the capture of biometric information and authenticationas described below. The processes depicted herein are shown from theperspective of the mobile device 101 a and/or the system server 105,however, it should be understood that the processes can be performed, inwhole or in part, by the mobile device 101 a, the system server 105and/or other computing devices (e.g., remote computing device 102 and/oruser computing device 101 b) or any combination of the foregoing. Itshould be appreciated that more or fewer operations can be performedthan shown in the figures and described herein. These operations canalso be performed in a different order than those described herein. Itshould also be understood that one or more of the steps can be performedby the mobile device 101 a and/or on other computing devices (e.g.computing device 101 b, system server 105 and remote computing device102).

Turning now to FIG. 3, a flow diagram illustrates a routine 300 fordetecting the user's biometric features from a series of images inaccordance with at least one embodiment disclosed herein and generatinga biometric identifier for the purposes of authenticating a userincluding determining the user's liveness. In general, the routineincludes capturing and analyzing an image sequence of at least theuser's eyes, periocular region and surrounding facial region(collectively referred to as the facial region or the Vitruvian region);identifying low-level spatiotemporal features from at least the eyes andperiocular regions for the purposes of generating an identifier thatcompresses the low-level spatiotemporal features (the Vitruvianbiometric identifier). As compared to high level features, whichgenerally characterize the overall image frame (e.g., the entire pictureof the user's facial region), or intermediate features, whichcharacterize objects within the greater image frames (e.g., the nose),low-level features are frequently used to represent imagecharacteristics and in this case biometric characteristics. Low-levelfeatures are preferable in that they are robust for imagecharacterization in that they provide invariance under rotation, size,illuminosity, scale and the like.

The inclusion of the periocular region in generating a biometricidentifier can be beneficial in that in images where the iris featuresalone cannot be reliably obtained (or used), the surrounding skin regionmay be used to characterize the user's biometric features which can beused to effectively confirm or refute an identity. Moreover, the use ofthe periocular region represents a balance between using the entire faceregion and using only the iris for recognition. When the entire face isimaged from a distance, the iris information is typically of lowresolution and the extraction of biometric features from the irismodality alone will be poor.

Furthermore, the collective aggregation of low-level periocular featureseffectively generates a Vitruvian identifier characterizing higher levelfeatures, e.g., intermediate level features. The periocular region canbe considered to be an intermediate level feature with high performancewhen it comes to classification of the subject, because, in general, theperiocular region provides a high concentration of unique features fromwhich a user can be classified (biometrically).

It should be understood that, according to the disclosed embodiments,the images can be captured and the biometric identifier that isindicative of the user's liveness can be generated using mobile devices(e.g. smartphones) that are widely available and having digital camerascapable of capturing images of the Vitruvian region in the visiblespectral bands. However, it should be understood that the disclosedsystems and methods can be implemented using computing devices equippedwith multispectral image acquisition devices that can image in both thevisible and near-IR spectral bands. Such multispectral image acquisitionuser devices can facilitate capturing the iris texture and theperiocular texture.

The process begins at step 305, where the mobile device processor 110configured by executing one or more software modules 130, including,preferably, the capture module 172, causes the camera 145 to capture animage sequence of at least a portion of the user's (124) Vitruvianregion and stores the image sequence in memory. Capturing the imagesequence includes detecting, by the mobile device camera 145, lightreflected off a portion of the user's Vitruvian region. Preferably, theportion of the user's Vitruvian region includes the user's iris/irises,eye(s), periocular region, face or a combination of the foregoing. Inaddition, the configured processor can cause the mobile device to emitlight, at least in the visible spectrum, to improve the intensity of thereflection captured by the camera. In addition, although not required,the mobile device can also be configured to emit infra-red light toaugment the spectrum of reflected light that is captured by the camera.It should be understood that the image sequence includes a plurality ofimage frames that are captured in sequence over a period of time.

Then at step 310, a first image frame is analyzed and low-level featuresare identified and their relative positions recorded. More specifically,the mobile device processor 110 configured by executing the softwaremodules 130, including, preferably, the analysis module 172, analyzes afirst individual image frame to extract/detect spatial information ofthe low-level Vitruvian biometric features including, preferably,periocular features. The configured processor can detect the features or“keypoints” by executing a keypoint detection algorithm including butnot limited to, SIFT, SURF, FREAK, Binary features, Dense SIFT, ORB orother such algorithms whether known in the art or new. The configuredprocessor encodes each of the keypoints detected using the pixel values(e.g., how bright and what color the pixel is) that correspond to theidentified keypoint thereby defining a local key descriptor. Theselow-level features generally range from 3 to approximately 100 pixels insize, however it should be understood that low-level features are notlimited to falling within the aforementioned range. Similar to mostimage algorithm's descriptors (SIFT, SURF, FREAK, etc.), the set ofpixels does not necessarily represent a square area. Each feature'scomputation entails thorough histogram estimations that are taken, forexample, over 16×16 regions. It should be understood that the size ofthe histogram or region can be considered to represent the strength ofthe feature and is a non-linear function of pixels (e.g. it is notnecessarily a function of image quality).

Then at step 315, a continuous series of subsequent frames are analyzedand spatial and/or dynamic information of the keypoints identified atstep 310 is extracted. Using the keypoint descriptors encoded/generatedat step 310, the mobile device processor 110, which is configured byexecuting the software modules 130, including, preferably, the analysismodule 172, analyzes a plurality of subsequent frames to identify thecorresponding keypoints in each of the subsequent images in the sequenceof images. More specifically, the pixels defining the local keypointdescriptors are detected in the subsequent image frames and spatial anddynamic information for the detected pixels is extracted. Such dynamicinformation includes the relative movement of the pixels throughout theseries of pixel image frames. For example, the configured processor cananalyze the next, say, 5-10 frames in the image sequence by applying analgorithm (e.g. Lukas Kanade or Brox algorithms and the like) to detectthe pixels corresponding to the keypoints in each of the images in thesequence. The configured processor can track the position of a sparse ordense sample set of pixels throughout the frames and record thepositions.

The relative position (e.g. movement) of a pixel from one image frame toanother is referred to as the “optical flow displacement” or “flow”. Itshould be understood that the optical flow displacement can also besampled using other multi-frame, recursive analysis methods.

The configured processor can quantize the total amount of points bypopulating them spatially and temporally in histogram bins that can beencoded in the memory of the mobile device. Wherein each bin representshow much ‘optical flow’ and spatial ‘gradients’ exist in the clusters ofpixels associated with a particular keypoint descriptor.

Preferably, the configured processor can populate the histograms,according to algorithms, including but not limited to, HOOF, HOG or SIFTand the like. Accordingly, the paths can be defined as histograms oforiented gradients (temporal or spatial) and histograms of orientedflows.

Temporal gradients represent the change in position over time(direction, magnitude, time between the image frames) e.g., flow of apixel or pixels. For example, a pixel intensity identified in the firstimage frame that is then identified at another pixel location in asecond image frame in the sequence, can be expressed as a temporalgradient. Spatial gradients represent the difference of intensitiesaround a particular pixel or groups of pixels in an image frame. Forexample, the intensity of a pixel X in a first image frame and theintensity of surrounding pixels X−1, X+1, Y−1, Y+1, can be representedas a oriented gradient showing the difference in intensity between X andsurrounding pixels X−1, X+1, etc. By way of further example, a blackpixel right next to a white pixel that is right next to a black pixel isa very strong gradient whereas three white pixels in a row have nogradient.

Accordingly, both spatial and temporal information is defined in thehistograms. Coupling such spatial information and temporal informationenables a single Vitruvian characterization to be both a function ofsingle image content as well as of dynamic motion content over timethroughout multiple images.

It should be understood that one or more pre-processing operations canbe performed on the image frames prior to performing steps 310 and 315.By example and without limitations, pre-processing on the image dataprior to analysis can include scaling, orienting the image frames incoordinate space and the like as would be understood by those skilled inthe art.

It should also be understood that additional pre-processing operationscan be performed by the configured processor on the spatial and temporalinformation before populating the information in the histograms. Byexample and without limitation, pre-processing can include, Computingalgebraic combinations of the derivatives of the tracked flow paths,deepr, spatial derivative textures, motion boundary histograms akin toInria CVPR 2011, Kalman, filters, stabilization algorithms and the like.

Then at step 320, the salient pixel continuities are identified. Themobile device processor 110, which is configured by executing thesoftware modules 130, including, preferably, the analysis module 172,can identify salient pixel continuities by analyzing the “optical flow”of the pixels throughout the sequence of frames and recorded in thehistograms.

In general, the path of movement of one or more pixels can be analyzedand compared to prescribed criteria in order to determine whatcharacteristic the flow exhibits (e.g., is flow representative of astatic pixel, a continuously changing position, of non-fluid motion suchas jumping around the image frame, etc.). Preferably, the salient pixelcontinuities are those pixels and groups of pixels that have opticalflow values that are continuous.

More specifically, the configured processor can compare the optical flowgradients of a pixel to a prescribed set of continuity criteria whichare defined to ensure the presence of flow dynamics. For example andwithout limitation, continuity criteria can include but is not limitedto, the presence of deeper derivatives on the flow tracks of the pixeldefining a particular keypoint. By way of further example, continuitycriteria can be established through analysis of image sequences capturedof live subjects to identify optical flow values/characteristicsexhibited by live subjects as compared to flow values/characteristicsexhibited by imagery taken of non-live subjects. It should be understoodthat these characteristics can be unique to the user or can becharacteristics shared by other live subjects. If the pixel associatedwith a particular keypoint has flow that meets the continuity criteriathe particular pixel can be identified as salient continuities. In otherwords, if the pixel exhibits flow that meets the continuity criteria,the pixel or group of pixels can be determined to indicate liveness. Ifpixels showing liveness are found, then the processor can determine thatthe subject of the images is alive, hence, determining liveness, asfurther described herein.

It should be understood that, because histogram bins are essentiallydistributions of pixel areas, the configured processor can analyze flowon a pixel by pixel basis or greater groups of associated pixels (e.g.,multiple pixels defining a particular keypoint).

Then at step 325, Vitruvian primitives are computed according to thesalient pixel continuities identified at step 320. The Vitruvianprimitives are computational constructs that characterize a particularuser's Vitruvian region according to the spatial arrangement of featuresidentified at step 310 and dynamic information identified at 315. Morespecifically, the primitives are computed, using the configured mobiledevice processor, on the space of histogram distributions. Because thespace of histograms can be very computationally expensive and mobiledevices are generally not as computationally powerful as traditionalbiometric authentication systems, the Vitruvian primitives can becomputed on the space of histograms thereby resulting in histograms thatare lower in computational complexity.

The configured processor, can expand the spatial keypoint binning tohigher algebraic combinations of gradient forms, thereby resulting onall possible spatiotemporal distributions of binned quantities. Theconfigured processor can compute the features in a short spatiotemporaldomain, for example, up to 5 pixel image frames. However, it should beunderstood that shorter or longer spatiotemporal domain can be used. Forexample, when applying Eulerian coupling a longer domain is preferable.

Then at step 330, the Vitruvian primitives are stored by the configuredprocessor in the memory of the mobile device as a Vitruvian identifier.In addition, the configured processor can generate and store one or morebiometric identifiers which includes at least the Vitruvian identifier.

It should be understood that while routine 300 is described in referenceto generating a Vitruvian identifier, such terms should not beinterpreted as limiting, as the routine 500 is applicable to theextraction and characterization of any number of biometric features fromimagery of any portion(s) of an individual's body, including but notlimited to, the user's face, eyes (including the iris) and/or periocularregion to define a biometric identifier. Moreover, the routine 300 isalso applicable to the identification and characterization of featuresfrom imagery of non-human subjects.

It can also be appreciated that, in addition to characterizing a user bygenerating a Vitruvian identifier according to routine 300 as describedabove, additional biometric features can be extracted from the imagesequence captured at step 305, or captured separately from step 505.Such additional biometric features can include by way of example andwithout limitation, soft biometric traits. “Soft biometric” traits arephysical, behavioral or adhered human characteristics as opposed to hardbiometrics such as fingerprints, iris, periocular characteristics andthe like which are generally invariant. However, it should be understoodthat certain features within the periocular region can offer informationabout features that can be used as soft biometrics, such as eye-shape.By way of further example, soft biometric traits can include physicaltraits such as skin textures, or skin colors. Soft biometrics can alsoinclude motion as detected by smartphone gyroscope/accelerometer, eyemotion characteristics as detected by eye tracking algorithms and headmotion characteristics as detected by tracking the movement of a faceand/or head.

Such biometric features can be extracted and characterized according tothe foregoing method as well as existing biometric analysis algorithms.In addition, the additional characterizations of the user's biometricfeatures can be encoded as part of the Vitruvian identifier concurrentlyto execution of the exemplary routine 300, or otherwise included in abiometric identifier which includes the Vitruvian identifier, forexample by fusing the soft biometric identifiers with the Vitruvianidentifier.

It should also be understood that the biometric identifier is notlimited to including the exemplary Vitruvian identifier and can includeany number of alternative biometric representations of a user such asidentifiers generated according to known biometric identificationmodalities (e.g., iris, face, voice, fingerprint, and the like).

According to another salient aspect of the subject application, inaddition to characterizing a user's biometric features, extractingdynamic information and recording the temporal gradients e.g., ‘flow’,the biometric identifier that is generated according to the exemplaryroutine 300 is also indicative of the liveness of the user. Accordingly,in addition to generating a Vitruvian identifier according to a sequenceof images, process 300 can also be implemented to generate a livenessidentifier for the purposes of determining the liveness of user. Assuch, the configured mobile device processor employing one or more ofthe steps of process 500, can extract and record dynamic information oflocal key points in the images, and analyze the dynamic information to,at a minimum, identify salient continuities that exhibit flow to definea liveness identifier. It should be understood that the livenessidentifier can be separate from or incorporated into the Vitruvianidentifier generated by exemplary process 300. As such, references toliveness identifier can be interpreted as a distinct identifier or aspart of the Vitruvian identifier.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine 400 for enrolling theuser 124 with the system 100. The enrollment process verifies the user'sidentity to ensure that the user is who they say they are and can alsospecify the manner in which the user 124 and the mobile device 101 a areidentified to the system server 105. In addition, enrollment can createa user profile which associates the user 124 with user devices (e.g.,user's mobile device 101 a and/or the user computing device 101 b) andwith one or more of the user's transaction accounts. Enrollment alsoincludes capturing (e.g., reading) the user's biometrics features,generating one or more biometric identifiers characterizing thosefeatures and determining the user's liveness. These steps can beperformed for verification as well as to establish a baseline for futureverification sessions as further described herein. Accordingly, it canbe appreciated that many of the steps discussed in relation to FIG. 4can be performed during subsequent user authentication sessions asdiscussed in relation to FIG. 5.

The process begins at step 405, where the mobile device processor, whichis configured by executing instructions in the form of one or moresoftware modules 130, preferably, the enrollment module 176, thebiometric capture module 172, the communication module 182, the databasemodule 178, the analysis module 174 and/or the authentication module 180initializes the various mobile device components to determine theirrespective operability and capabilities.

Initialization can be performed during the initial enrollment processand can also be performed during subsequent biometriccapture/authentication processes. However, it should be understood thatsome or all of the steps need not be performed with each initializationand can be performed upon initial enrollment and/or periodicallythereafter. By way of non-limiting example, initialization of a mobiledevice to facilitate biometric authentication using a mobile device aredescribed herein and in co-pending and commonly assigned U.S. PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/842,800.

Then at step 410, the mobile device 101 a collects user identificationinformation. More specifically, the mobile device processor 110, whichis configured by executing one or more software modules 130, including,preferably, the enrollment module 176 and the user interface module 170,can prompt the user to input the user identification information andreceive the user inputs via the user interface 115. The useridentification information can include information about the user'sidentity (e.g., name, address, social security number, etc). Inaddition, user identification information can include information aboutone or more transaction accounts. For example, the user can enterpre-existing log-in and passwords associated with the user's varioustransaction accounts (e.g., online banking accounts, website VPNaccounts and the like) or actual transaction account details (e.g., bankaccount numbers, routing numbers, debit/credit card numbers, expirationdates and the like). Preferably such information is stored in anencrypted manner on the mobile device 101 a storage. In addition, someor all of the user identification information can also be transmitted tothe system server 105 via the communications network for storageremotely.

Then at step 415, mobile device identification information is collected.Mobile device identification information can include but is not limitedto at least a portion of the DeviceID, AndroidID, IMEI, CPU serialnumber, GPU serial number and other such identifiers that are unique tothe mobile device. More specifically, the mobile device processor 110,which is configured by executing one or more software modules 130,including, preferably, the enrollment module 176, can query the varioushardware and software components of the mobile device 101 a to obtainrespective device identification information. Using the mobile deviceidentification information the configured mobile device processor or thesystem server can generate one or more mobile device identifiers thatuniquely identify the mobile device as further described herein.

Then at step 420, the user's biometrics features are captured using themobile device 101 a. In some implementations, the mobile deviceprocessor 110, which is configured by executing one or more softwaremodules 130, including, preferably, the enrollment module 176, theanalysis module 174, the user interface module 170, and the biometriccapture module 172, prompts the user to capture imagery of the user'siris/irises, eye(s), periocular region, face (e.g., the Vitruvianregion) or a combination of the foregoing using the mobile device camera145 and stores a sequence of images to storage 190 or memory 120.

In some implementations, the configured processor 110 can also cause themicrophone 104 to capture the user's voice through a microphone incommunication with the mobile device and record the audio data to thedevice memory. For example, the user can be prompted to say words orphrases which are recorded using the microphone. The mobile device cancapture images of the user's face, eyes, etc. while recording the user'svoice, or separately.

Then at step 425, one or more biometric identifiers are generated fromthe captured biometric information and are stored to complete theenrolment stage. More specifically, the mobile device processor 110,which is configured by executing one or more software modules 130,including, preferably, the biometric capture module 172, the databasemodule 178, the analysis module 174, can analyze the biometricinformation captured by the camera and generate a biometric identifier(e.g., “a Vitruvian identifier”) as further described herein and inreference to FIG. 3.

In some implementations, the user's voice biometric features can becharacterized as a voice print such that the user can be biometricallyauthenticated from characteristics of the user's voice according tovoice speaker identification algorithms. For example, the audiocomponent of the user's biometric information can be analyzed by themobile device processor according to the voice speaker identificationalgorithms to create a voice print for the user which can be stored bythe mobile device. The various technologies used to process voice data,generate and store voice prints can include without limitation,frequency estimation, hidden Markov models, Gaussian mixture models,pattern matching algorithms, neural networks, matrix representation,vector quantization and decision trees. Accordingly, the user can beauthenticated/identified or liveness determined by analyzing thecharacteristics of the user's voice according to known voice speakeridentification algorithms as further described herein.

In some implementations, the configured mobile device processor 110 candetermine if the biometric information captured is sufficient togenerate adequate biometric identifiers. If the biometric features arenot identified with sufficient detail from the biometric informationcaptured (e.g., imagery, audio data, etc.), the configured mobile deviceprocessor can prompt the user to repeat the biometric capture processvia the display or other such output of the mobile device 101 a. Inaddition, the configured mobile device processor 110 can providefeedback during and after capture thereby suggesting an “idealscenario”, for example and without limitation, a location with adequatevisible light, the appropriate distance and orientation of the camerarelative to the user's face and the like.

Moreover, in some implementations, the configured mobile deviceprocessor can analyze the light captured by the camera and the lightspectrum that can be emitted by light emitters on the mobile device, andadjust the frequency of the light emitted during the capture step so asto improve the quality of the biometric information captured by thecamera. For example, if the configured processor is unable to generate abiometric identifier, and determines that the user has darker coloredeyes, the processor can cause the camera to recapture the image data andcause the light emitter to emit light frequencies that are, say, asclose to the infra-red spectrum as possible given the particular mobiledevice's capabilities so as to capture more features of the user's iris.

In addition to generating the one or more biometric identifiers asdiscussed above, the configured mobile device processor can alsogenerate identifiers incorporating multiple instances of one or morebiometric identifiers. For example, during the enrollment process, theconfigured mobile device processor can capture and analyze multiplesequences of biometric information so as to generate multiple biometricidentifiers that, collectively, are adequate virtual representations ofuser 124 across the multiple captures (e.g., to ensure that theconfigured processor has “learned” enough biometric information for user124). Accordingly, the biometric capture portion of the enrollmentprocess can be performed several times at various intervals andlocations so as to capture the user's biometric information in variousreal-world scenarios, thereby increasing the likelihood that futureauthentication will be positive and without error. It should beunderstood that the multiple biometric identifiers can be storedseparately and/or combined into a single identifier.

In addition or alternatively, multi-modal biometric identifiers can begenerated by fusing identifiers generated according to differentbiometric identification modalities to create a multi-dimensionalbiometric identifier that is a combined biometric representation of theuser. For example, the mobile device processor configured by executingone or more modules including, preferably, the analysis module 174, cancombine the user's voice print(s) and the Vitruvian identifier(s).

At step 430, the mobile device processor 110, which is configured byexecuting one or more software modules 130, including, preferably, thecapture module 172, can also receive non-machine-vision basedinformation. Non-machine-vision based information generally relates tobehavioral characteristics of the user 124 during enrollment andsubsequent authentication sessions that are indicative of the user'sidentity as well as the user's liveness. For example and withoutlimitation, non-machine-vision based information can include a timereceived from an on-board clock, a location received from GPS device,how far from the user's face the camera is positioned during imagecapture calculated from imagery or other on-board proximity measuringdevices, the orientation of the mobile device and acceleration of themobile device received from an accelerometer, RF radiation detected byan RF detector, gravity magnetometers which detect the Earth's magneticfield to determine the 3-dimensional orientation in which the phone isbeing held, light sensors which measure light intensity levels and thelike.

In some implementations, the non-machine-vision based information isreceived over time and stored such that the configured processor candetermine patterns in the information that are unique to the user 124 byapplying behavioral algorithms. Accordingly, during later authenticationstages, the current non-computer-vision based data collected can beanalyzed and compared to the user's established behavioral traits toverify the user's identity as well as determine whether the informationis indicative of liveness. For example, time and location basedbehavioral patterns can be identified over time and the current positioncompared to the pattern to determine if any abnormal behavior isexhibited. By way of further example, the particular “swing” oracceleration of the mobile device during multiple authenticationprocesses can be characterized as a behavioral trait and the particularswing of the current authentication can be compared to identify abnormalbehavior. By way of further example, the device orientation or distancefrom the user's face can also be similarly compared. By way of furtherexample, an RF radiation signature for the user can be establishedduring enrollment and compared to future measurements to identifyabnormal RF radiation levels suggesting the use of video screens tospoof the system.

At step 435, the mobile device processor configured by executing one ormore software modules 130, including, preferably, the analysis module174, can generate one or more liveness identifiers which characterizethe captured user's biometrics and/or the non-machine-vision basedinformation that are indicative of the user's liveness. As noted above,determining liveness is an anti-spoofing measure that can be performedduring enrollment and subsequent authentication sessions to ensure thatthe image sequence captured by the imaging device is of a live subjectand not a visual representation of the user by, say, a high resolutionvideo.

In some implementations, the process for generating biometricidentifiers, as discussed at step 425 and process 300, can be used togenerate a liveness identifier and/or determine the user's liveness.More specifically, the configured mobile device processor, employing thesteps of process 300, can extract and record dynamic information ofVitruvian biometric features and encode the features as a uniqueliveness identifier. In addition, it should be understood that theconfigured processor can analyze the dynamic information to identifyfluid motion of the features within the image sequence that areindicative of a living subject (i.e., liveness) because every time theuser enrolls or validates, the user will actually move a little nomatter how steady he/she is trying to be. More particularly, livenesscan be determined from analysis of the dynamic movement of low-levelVitruvian features to determine if the flow is representative ofcontinuous motion. Similarly, liveness can also be determined by themovement of intermediate level features such as the eyes, mouth, andother portions of the face.

In addition or alternatively, the configured processor can generate aliveness identifier and/or determine liveness according to the Eulerianmotion magnification algorithms also referred to as Eulerian videomagnification (EMM or EVM). EMM can be used to amplify small motions ofthe subject captured in the images, for example, flushing of thesubject's skin during a heartbeat. In some implementations, whenemploying EMM, the camera (e.g., the smartphone camera) and the subjectare still, however, the configured processor can use EMM to detect thesesmall motions of the subject even while the device is moving using videostabilization.

In some implementations, a liveness identifier can be generated andliveness determined, by analyzing lip movement, pupil dilation,blinking, and head movement throughout the image sequence. Moreover, aliveness identifier can also be generated and liveness determined byanalyzing the audio recording of the user voice as would be understoodby those skilled in the art. Moreover, in some implementations, livenesscan also be determined from analyzing the light values associated withlow-level, intermediate and/or high level features represented in asingle image. In addition, such light values can also be analyzedthroughout multiple image frames in the sequence to determine abnormallight intensities throughout multiple frames.

In addition, the non-machine-vision based information including, timereceived from an on-board clock, location received from a gps device,how far from the user's face the camera is positioned during imagecapture as calculated from imagery received from the camera or otheron-board distance measuring device, the mobile device orientation duringfeature acquisition, acceleration of the mobile device while the mobiledevice is drawn into position for acquisition as received from anaccelerometer can all be used to generate an identifier characterizingthe user's unique behavioral characteristics and/or analyzed todetermine if the information is indicative of the user's liveness duringregistration and authentication sessions.

It should be understood that one or more liveness identifiers generatedaccording to the computer vision based and non-machine-vision basedmethods can be analyzed and stored individually or combined to generateone or more multi-dimensional liveness identifiers.

Then at step 440, a user profile is generated and stored. The userprofile can include one or more pieces of user identificationinformation and mobile device identification. In addition the userprofile can include information concerning one or more of the user'stransaction accounts as well as settings that can be used to guide theoperation of the system 100 according to the user's preferences. Inaddition, the biometric identifiers can be stored locally on the mobiledevice 101 a in association with the user's profile such that the mobiledevice can perform biometric authentication according to the biometricidentifiers. In addition or alternatively, the biometric identifiers canbe stored in association with the user's profile on a remote computingdevice (e.g., system server 105 or remote computing device 102) enablingthose devices to perform biometric authentication of the user.

In some implementations, a unique user identifier (a “userId”) and anassociated mobile device identifier (a “mobileId”) can be generated andstored in a clustered persistent environment so as to create the profilefor the user. The userId and mobileId can be generated using one or morepieces of the user identification information and mobile deviceidentification information, respectively. It should be understood thatadditional user identification information and mobile deviceidentification information can also be stored to create the user profileor stored in association with the user profile. In addition, the userIdand associated mobileId can be stored in association with informationconcerning one or more of the user's transaction accounts.

At this juncture, it can be appreciated that the userId can be used tomap the user profile to the user's legacy transaction accounts. Inaddition, the mobileId ties the device to a user profile. It can also beappreciated that user profiles can be created by the system server 105and/or the mobile device 101 a. Moreover, one or more instances of auser profile can be stored on various devices (e.g., system server 105,mobile device 101 a, remote computing device 102, or user computingdevice 101 b). In addition, the information included in the variousinstances of the user's profiles can vary from device to device. Forexample, an instance of the user profile which stored on the mobiledevice 101 a can include the userId, mobileId, user identificationinformation and sensitive information concerning the user's transactionaccounts, say, account numbers and the like. By way of further example,the instance of the user profile stored by the system server 105 caninclude the userId, mobileId, other unique identifiers assigned to theuser and information that identifies the user's transaction accounts butdoes not include sensitive account information.

Turning now to FIG. 5, which is a flow diagram that illustrates aroutine 500 for authenticating a user 124 including determining theuser's liveness and facilitating access to networked environments inaccordance with at least one embodiment disclosed herein.

The process begins at step 505, where the mobile device 101 a receives arequest to authenticate the user 124. In some implementations,authentication can be commenced by receiving a user input by the mobiledevice 101 a. For example, the user can launch the secure authenticationclient application causing authentication to begin. In someimplementations, the mobile device 101 a can begin the authenticationprocess automatically. For example, the mobile device can prompt theuser to authenticate upon detecting that the user has used the mobiledevice to access a networked environment requiring user authenticationas specified by the user settings or by the enterprise organization thatoperates the networked environment.

In some implementations, the system server 105 can cause the mobiledevice 101 a to begin authentication in response to a request forauthentication identifying the user. For example, the request can bereceived by the system server directly from a remote computing device102 controlling access to a networked environment (e.g., a financialinstitution system, a networked computing device that controls anelectronic door lock providing access to a restricted location, aweb-server that requires user authentication prior to allowing the userto access a website). Preferably, the authentication request identifiesthe user 124 thereby enabling the system server 105 to cause theappropriate user's mobile device to commence authentication.

Then at step 510, the mobile device processor 110, which is configuredby executing one or more software modules, including, the authenticationmodule 180, the user interface module 170, the analysis module 174 andthe capture module 172, captures the user's current biometricinformation. In addition, the configured processor can also capturecurrent non-machine-vision based information as well as current mobiledevice identification information. The capture of such information canbe performed by the mobile device in the manner described in relation tosteps 420 and 430 of FIG. 4.

Then at step 515, the mobile device processor 110, which is configuredby executing one or more software modules, including, the authenticationmodule 180, the user interface module 170, the analysis module 174,generates one or more current biometric identifiers in the mannerdescribed in relation to FIG. 4 and FIG. 3.

Then at step 520, the mobile device processor 110, which is configuredby executing one or more software modules, including, the authenticationmodule 180, the user interface module 170, the analysis module 174, cangenerate one or more current liveness identifiers using the currentbiometric information and/or current non-machine-vision basedinformation in the manner described in relation to FIG. 4 and FIG. 3.

In addition, at step 525, the mobile device processor 110, which isconfigured by executing one or more software modules, including, theauthentication module 180, the user interface module 170, the capturemodule 172 and the analysis module 174, can extract the mobile deviceidentification information that is currently associated with the mobiledevice 101 a and generate a current mobile identifier substantially inthe same manner as described in relation to step 415 of FIG. 4.Similarly, the configured mobile device processor 110 can also captureuser identification information and generate a current user identifiersubstantially in the same manner as described in relation to step 410 ofFIG. 4. It should be understood that such information and a mobiledevice identifier and a user identifier need not be generated with eachauthentication session. In addition or alternatively, previouslygenerated identifiers, say, the mobileId and userId generated duringinitial enrollment, can be used to identify the mobile device and user.

Then at step 530, the user is authenticated according to at least aportion of the one or more current biometric identifiers. Using thecurrent biometric identifiers, the user's identity can be authenticatedby comparing the biometric identifiers to one or more stored biometricidentifiers that were previously generated during the enrollment processor subsequent authentication sessions. It should be understood that thebiometric authentication step is not limited to using the exemplaryVitruvian biometric identifiers and can utilize any number of otherbiometric identifiers generated according to various biometricidentification modalities (e.g., iris, face, voice, fingerprint, and thelike).

In some implementations, the mobile device processor, configured byexecuting one or more software modules 130, including, preferably, theauthentication module, authenticates the user 124 by matching at least aportion of the one or more current biometric identifiers generated atstep 515 to the previously generated version(s) and determining whetherthey match to a requisite degree. For example, the configured mobiledevice processor can apply a matching algorithm to compare at least aportion of the current biometric identifiers to the stored versions anddetermine if they match to a prescribed degree. More specifically, in anexemplary matching algorithm, the process of finding frame-to-frame(e.g., current identifier to stored identifier) correspondences can beformulated as the search of the nearest neighbor from one set ofdescriptors for every element of another set. Such algorithms caninclude but not limited to the brute-force matcher and Flann-basedmatcher.

The brute-force matcher looks for each descriptor in the first set andthe closest descriptor in the second set by comparing each descriptor(e.g., exhaustive search). The Flann-based matcher uses the fastapproximate nearest neighbor search algorithm to find correspondences.The result of descriptor matching is a list of correspondences betweentwo sets of descriptors. The first set of descriptors is generallyreferred to as the train set because it corresponds to a pattern data(e.g., the stored one or more biometric identifiers). The second set iscalled the query set as it belongs to the “image” where we will belooking for the pattern (e.g., the current biometric identifiers). Themore correct matches found (e.g., the more patterns to imagecorrespondences exist) the more chances are that the pattern is presenton the image. To increase the matching speed, the configured processorcan train a matcher either before or by calling the match function. Thetraining stage can be used to optimize the performance of theFlann-based matcher. For this, the configured processor can build indextrees for train descriptors. And this will increase the matching speedfor large data sets. For brute-force matcher, generally, it can storethe train descriptors in the internal fields.

In addition, at step 535, the user is further authenticated by verifyingthe user's liveness. In some implementations, liveness of the user canbe determined by comparing at least a portion of the one or more currentliveness identifiers generated at step 520 with the previously generatedversions and determining whether they match to a requisite degree. Asnoted above, verifying the user's liveness can also include analyzingthe captured biometric and non-machine-vision information and/or theliveness identifier(s) to determine whether they exhibit characteristicsof a live subject to a prescribed degree of certainty. In someimplementations, the configured processor 110 can analyze the dynamicinformation encoded in the liveness identifier to determine if theinformation exhibits fluid motion of the biometric features within theimage sequence that are indicative of a living subject. Moreparticularly, liveness can be determined from analysis of the dynamicmovement of low-level Vitruvian features to determine if the flow isrepresentative of continuous motion. Similarly, liveness can also bedetermined by the movement of intermediate level features such as theeyes, mouth, and other portions of the face. Similarly, liveness can bedetermined by comparing the movement of the user's intermediate levelfeatures with one or more other biometric characterizations of the userto determine if they correspond. For example, the user's lip movementscan be compared to the user's voice print to determine whether the lipmovement corresponds to the words spoken by the user during the captureprocess at step 510.

Whether liveness is determined by matching liveness identifiersaccording to a matching algorithm or by analyzing the informationcaptured at step 510 or liveness identifiers generated at step 520 forindicators of liveness can be dependent on environmental constraints,for example, lighting. More specifically, if the biometric informationis captured in poor lighting conditions, liveness can be determinedusing matching algorithms. Alternatively, if the biometric informationis captured under adequate lighting conditions, liveness can bedetermined by analyzing the captured information and/or the generatedidentifiers which characterize the biometric information.

Moreover, the current non-computer-vision based information collected atstep 510 can also be analyzed and compared to the user's establishedbehavioral traits to determine whether they match to a prescribeddegree. For example, time and location based behavioral patterns can beidentified over time and the current position compared to the pattern todetermine if any differences (e.g., abnormal behavior) are exhibited. Byway of further example, the particular “swing” or acceleration of themobile device during multiple authentication processes can becharacterized as a behavioral trait and the particular swing of thecurrent authentication can be compared to identify abnormal behavior. Byway of further example, the device orientation or distance from theuser's face can also be similarly compared. It should be understood thatthis analysis can be performed to determine liveness as well as toauthenticate the user's identity in connection with step 535.

In addition or alternatively, the user liveness and/or the user'sidentity can be further verified according to additional securitysecrets. By way of example and without limitation, security secrets caninclude: physical items, (e.g., personal items, items around the user'sworkplace, home, or locations where the user authenticates frequently);prescribed secret actions (e.g., a characteristic wave of the mobiledevice 101 a or orientation of the device when performing the securitysecret check); or other such secret passwords. The security secrets canbe identified by the user during enrollment and associated with the userprofile for subsequent liveness/authentication sessions.

In some implementations, the mobile device processor 110, which isconfigured by executing one or more software modules 130, includingpreferably, the authentication module 180 and the communication module182, can prompt the user to further verify liveness and/or identity byperforming the secret action. For example, the user can be prompted totake one or more pictures of a security secret, say take a picture ofthe user's wrist watch while holding the mobile device camera at aprescribed orientation and pre-set distance and from the watch.

In response to the user's input, the processor 110 can compare thesecurity secret to the user profile to verify liveness/identity. Forexample, the processor can compare the image(s) captured to imagesstored during enrollment to determine whether they match to a prescribeddegree, as discussed above. Accordingly, it can be appreciated that thesecurity secret provides an additional layer of security because thesecret itself is known to the user and cannot be easily obtained withoutthe user's consent or forcefully obtaining the information from thestored user profile(s).

Then, at step 540, the information identifying the user and/or themobile device is verified. In some implementations, the mobile deviceprocessor 110, which is configured by executing one or more softwaremodules 130, including preferably, the authentication module 180 and thecommunication module 182, can generate a request to verify the user'sidentity and transmit the request to the system server 105. For exampleand without limitation, the request can include: information identifyingthe user (e.g., user identification information or a user identifiergenerated during authentication or enrollment); information identifyingthe mobile device (e.g., mobile device identification or a mobile deviceidentifier generated during authentication or enrollment); informationindicating whether the user has been biometrically authenticated;information concerning the networked system that the user is attemptingto access.

In response to receipt of the request, the system server 105 cancross-reference the user identified in the request with database of userprofiles to determine whether the user is associated with a user profileand, hence, is enrolled with the system 100. Likewise, the system servercan determine whether the mobile device identified by the request isalso associated with the user profile. For example, the system server105 can compare a received current userId to the userId stored in theuser profile to determine if they match. Likewise the system server 105can match a received current mobileId to a previously stored mobileId todetermine if they match and are associated with the same user.

It should be understood that, the steps for authenticating the useraccording to the biometric identifiers, liveness identifiers, the useridentification information and/or mobile device identificationinformation can be performed by the system server 105 or the mobiledevice 101 a, or a combination of the foregoing.

Then at step 545, an authentication notification is generated accordingto whether the user has been authenticated. In some implementation, thesystem server 105 can transmit the authentication notification directlyto the secure networked environment that the user is attempting toaccess or indirectly via one or more computing devices being used by theuser to access the networked environment (e.g., mobile device 101 a oruser computing device 101 b). For example, the authenticationnotification can be transmitted to a remote computing device 102 thatcontrols access to a secure networked environment. By way of furtherexample, the authentication notification can be transmitted to themobile device 101 a or the user computing device 101 b with which theuser is attempting to gain access to a secure networked environmentusing a transaction account with that server. Accordingly, based on theauthentication notification, any such remote computing device whichreceives the authentication notification can grant access to the userand/or further process the requested transaction accordingly.

The substance and form of the authentication notification can varydepending on the particular implementation of the system 100. Forexample, in the case of user attempting to access a website, thenotification can simply identify the user and indicate that the userbeen biometrically authenticated and the user identity has beenverified. In addition or alternatively, the notification can includeinformation concerning one or more transaction accounts, say, the user'slog-in and password information or a one-time password. In otherinstances, say, when user is trying to complete a financial transaction,the notification can include the user's payment data, transactionauthorization and the like. In some implementations, the authenticationnotification can include a fused key, which is a one-time authorizationpassword that is fused with one or more biometric, mobile, or livenessidentifiers, user identification information and/or mobile deviceidentification information, and the like. In such an implementation, thecomputing device receiving of the authentication notification canun-fuse the one time password according to biometric, mobile and/orliveness identifiers previously stored by the remote computing device.

Although much of the foregoing describes systems and methods fordetermining liveness based on imagery captured in the visual spectralbands, it can be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments aresimilarly applicable to imagery captured in the near-IR and IR spectralbands. FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary mobile device equipped withmultispectral image acquisition devices that can image in the visible,near-IR spectral bands and/or IR bands, or a combination of theforegoing.

In one arrangement, the system consists of an assembly 600 enabled forcapturing imagery and to be operatively connected to a mobile device(e.g. mobile device 101 a). The assembly includes a polycarbonate case601, a PC board 610. The PC board can be operatively connected to one ormore light emitters 602, 604 and at least a sensor (e.g., a camera) 603capable of capturing digital images. The PC board 610 can also beoperatively connected to an electrical connector 607 via one or moredata connections and power connections (605, 606). Accordingly, the PCboard and its components can be operatively connected to a mobile device101 a via the connector 607, and operatively connected to externalcomputing devices via connector 608.

The sensor can be one or more imaging devices configured to captureimages of at least a portion of a user's body including the user's eyes,mouth, and/or face while utilizing the mobile device operativelyconnected to the case. The sensor can be integrated into the case 601,such as a front-facing camera or rear facing camera, that incorporatesthe sensor, for example and without limitation a CCD or CMOS sensor. Thesensor serves to facilitate the capture of images of the user for thepurpose of image analysis by the board 610 and/or the mobile device'sprocessor executing one or more image processing applications for, amongother things, identifying biometric features for biometricallyauthenticating the user from the images. The assembly also includesinclude one or more light or signal emitters (602, 604) for example, aninfra-red light emitter and/or visible light emitter and the like. Insome implementations, the camera 603 can include a near-infra-red (NIR)sensor and light emitters (602, 604) can be one or more NIR lightemitters, such as, light emitting diodes LEDs, for example, 700-900 nmIR LED emitters.

In accordance with the disclosed embodiments, during the biometriccapture step, the processor can cause the NIR LEDs (602, 604) toilluminate the user's eye and a cause the NIR camera 103 to capture asequence of images. From these images the mobile device processor canperform iris recognition and determine liveness. Accordingly, biometricfeatures can be identified according to positive eye authenticationtechniques, preferably, by applying algorithms analyzing the iris and/orperiocular regions and/or face to infra-red images captured usingsensors and IR emitters and/or near-IR emitters which are otherwise notwidely integrated in convention smartphones and/or visible light images.

Turning now to FIG. 7, a flow diagram illustrates a routine 700 fordetecting the user's liveness from a series of images in accordance withat least one embodiment disclosed herein using, for example, using amobile device 101 a having a processor 110 which is operativelyconnected to the assembly 600 of FIG. 6. In order to more reliablydistinguish a user's real eye from an impostor, say, a high resolutionprint of the user's eye (e.g., ‘spoofing’) the mobile device processor,using assembly 600, can capture imagery of the user's eyes/face andanalyze the images to ensure reflection characteristics particular to ahuman cornea are present in the captured image.

In some implementations, this can be done by pulsing the intensity ofone or more of the LEDs, e.g., 602 or 604 (step 705) and capturingimagery while pulsing the LEDs using the camera 603 (step 710). In thecase of a printed cornea reflection the reflection will be continuouslypresent in the images captured, in the case of the genuine cornea, thereflections depicted in the images will pulsate as the LED does.Accordingly, by analyzing the reflections, the mobile device processorcan distinguish between reflections of the LED from a genuine cornea anda print that includes an image of a reflection in the cornea.

In a preferred embodiment, one of the LEDs, (e.g., LED 602) remainscontinuously on and one of the NIR LEDs (e.g., LED 604) is pulsated at 3Hz with its intensity varying sinusoidally; and the camera 603 has aframe rate of more than 12 frames per second (fps). Preferably, thecamera captures multiple image frames for analysis, for example, 30images. The processor can then analyze the captured images and select,the one or more images having the highest image quality (e.g. bright andunblurred) to be used for iris pattern recognition so as to identify theuser (step 715). All of the images, or a subset, can be used to detectthe presence of cornea reflections and determine liveness as furtherdescribed herein.

In order to detect reflections, the processor can align the images sothat all images of the iris occur at the same position in each image(step 720). It can be appreciated that the aligned images provide datarelating to the intensity of the iris spatially (like a photograph), andtemporally (like a video).

Then, at step 725, for each pixel spatially, the processor can processthe temporal intensity data to determine the magnitude of the frequencycomponent at 3 Hz, and divide this by the magnitude of the frequencycomponent at 0 Hz. For example, this can be performed by the processorusing a Goertzel filter. As a result, the processor can generate animage that shows the strength of the reflection from the pulsating LEDcompared to the strength of the reflection from the continuous LED (step730). As can be understood by those in the art, the physical compositionof a genuine eye/cornea does not reflect the same amount of light as anon-genuine reproduction nor do they reflect light in exactly the samemanner. Accordingly, the processor can then analyze the resulting imageto determine if the reflection intensities are indicative of a genuinecornea or a reproduced cornea (step 735). In the case of a printed eyebeing imaged, the resulting image can have generally constant intensityand of about 50% intensity of a genuine cornea. In the case of a genuinecornea (e.g., captured from a live subject) the resulting image shouldexhibit a sharp peak of high intensity corresponding to the reflectionthat is only created by the pulsating LED and not the continuous LED. Inaddition, the processor can also detect differences in intensity due toshadows created in the periocular region, which give an additionalindication that the acquired image has a 3D profile and hence is a livesubject.

In addition, at step 740, the processor can analyze the resulting imageusing an image processing algorithm to check that the resulting image isconsistent with that expected from a genuine periocular region. It canbe appreciated that the reflection of light from a genuine cornea is afunction of the curvature of the eye, which varies from the reflectionof a reproduction, say, a flat image of the cornea. As a result thepattern of light reflected (e.g., concentration) varies accordingly. Insome implementations, the image can be compared to one or more similarlygenerated images of genuine periocular regions (e.g., of the user orother users) or compared to prescribed characteristics identified fromanalyzing imagery of genuine periocular regions. For example, theprocessor can employ a haar classifier, and/or algorithm for detectingthe presence of a strong reflection peak within the region of the pupil,and of an expected size/concentration of the reflection.

Then, at step 745, the processor can calculate a confidence levelindicating the likelihood that the images are captured from a genuineperiocular region. For example, the confidence level can be a functionof how closely the resulting image matches the one or more previouslygenerated images or prescribed characteristics (e.g., as determined atstep 740). In addition, the confidence level can be a function ofwhether the intensity exhibits more constant intensity characteristic ofimaging a non-genuine periocular region or exhibits sharp peaks of highintensity corresponding to the reflection that are characteristic ofimaging a genuine periocular region (e.g., as determined at step 735).If the liveness confidence level exceeds a prescribed confidence levelthreshold, the processor can determine that the user is alive andauthenticate the user accordingly.

In other embodiments, the LED's can both be pulsated out of phase witheach other. The frequencies of the LED pulsating, and the number offrames captures may be adjusted. Pulsating light allows the system toslow down the framerate of capture to acquire more detailed imagery. Forexample, pulsating the LEDs out of phase or at different frequencies canenable the system to capture data for determining liveness in varyingspectrums. Moreover pulsating LEDs at different frequencies can be usedto perform analysis in different ambient light scenarios. For example,outdoors where ambient IR light levels are high and indoors where IRlevels are lower. Also bursts of IR light can be emitted and can improvethe quality of the data collected as compared to a single stream oflight and can prolong LED life. Pulsating frequency can also be variedso as to avoid triggering adverse physical responses from users, forexample, epileptic reactions. Moreover, simple image subtraction couldbe used in place of pulse frequency analysis to reduce the number offrames required.

At this juncture, it should be noted that although much of the foregoingdescription has been directed to systems and methods for authenticatinga user according to the user's biometric features, the systems andmethods disclosed herein can be similarly deployed and/or implemented inscenarios, situations, and settings far beyond the referenced scenarios.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details,these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of anyimplementation or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions offeatures that may be specific to particular embodiments of particularimplementations. Certain features that are described in thisspecification in the context of separate embodiments can also beimplemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures that are described in the context of a single embodiment canalso be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in anysuitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be describedabove as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed assuch, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some casesbe excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may bedirected to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should beunderstood that the described program components and systems cangenerally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the term's “comprises”and/or “comprising”, when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof. It should be noted that use ofordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in the claims tomodify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority,precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporalorder in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely aslabels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name fromanother element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) todistinguish the claim elements. Also, the phraseology and terminologyused herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regardedas limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having,”“containing,” “involving,” and variations thereof herein, is meant toencompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well asadditional items. It is to be understood that like numerals in thedrawings represent like elements through the several figures, and thatnot all components and/or steps described and illustrated with referenceto the figures are required for all embodiments or arrangements.

Thus, illustrative embodiments and arrangements of the present systemsand methods provide a computer implemented method, computer system, andcomputer program product for authenticating a user according to theuser's biometrics. The flowchart and block diagrams in the figuresillustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possibleimplementations of systems, methods and computer program productsaccording to various embodiments and arrangements. In this regard, eachblock in the flowchart or block diagrams can represent a module,segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executableinstructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). Itshould also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, thefunctions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in thefigures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, beexecuted substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionalityinvolved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagramsand/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions oracts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computerinstructions.

The subject matter described above is provided by way of illustrationonly and should not be construed as limiting. Various modifications andchanges can be made to the subject matter described herein withoutfollowing the example embodiments and applications illustrated anddescribed, and without departing from the true spirit and scope of thepresent invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed:
 1. A computer implemented method for authenticating auser according to the user's biometric features, the method comprising:a) capturing, by a mobile device having a camera, a storage medium,instructions stored on the storage medium, and a processor configured byexecuting the instructions, a plurality of images depicting at least onefacial region of the user; b) detecting, by the processor from a firstimage of the plurality of images, a plurality of low-level featuresdepicted in the first image; c) determining, by the processor from thefirst image, a first position of a first low-level feature, wherein thefirst position is relative to a respective position of each of at leastone other low-level feature; d) determining, by the processor from eachof at least one other image of the plurality of images, at least onesecond respective position of the first low-level feature; e)calculating, by the processor as a function of the determining in stepsc) and d), changes in position of the first low-level feature; f)determining, by the processor, that the first low-level featurerepresents a live biometric feature of the user and thereby indicatesliveness of the user as a function of: i) the position of the firstlow-level feature depicted in the first image, and ii) the calculatedchanges in position of the first low-level feature; and g)authenticating, by the processor, the user according to determining thatthe first low-level feature indicates liveness of the user.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the step f) determining further comprises: h)generating, by the processor, a biometric identifier that is useable todetermine liveness of the user as a function of the changes in positionof the first low-level feature and at least one predetermined continuitycriteria.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step c) determiningfurther comprises: i) determining, by the processor, a location of eachof a plurality of pixels depicting the first low-level feature in thefirst image.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step d) determiningfurther comprises: j) determining, by the processor in the at least oneother image, respective locations of each of a plurality of pixelsdepicting the first low-level feature in each of the at least one otherimage.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step e) calculating furthercomprises: k) calculating, by the processor, the changes in position ofthe low-level feature in accordance with the determining in steps i) andj).
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: l) encoding, by theprocessor, the changes in position of the first low-level feature astemporal gradients in at least one spatiotemporal histogram, whereineach of the temporal gradients corresponds to at least one of the pixelsdepicting at least a portion of the first low-level, feature in thefirst image.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the temporal gradientsrepresent a difference between the location of the pixels depicting thefirst low-level feature in the first image and the respective locationsof the pixels depicting the first low-level feature in each of the atleast one other images.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: m)encoding, by the processor, intensity values for each of the pluralityof pixels depicting the first low-level feature in the first image asspatial gradients in the at least one spatiotemporal histogram.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the step f) determining further comprises: n)characterizing, by the processor, the first low-level feature as afunction of a space of distributions of the spatial gradients andtemporal gradients stored in the at least one spatiotemporal histogramson a pre-defined spatiotemporal domain.
 10. The method of claim 6,wherein the step f) generating further comprises: iii) determining, bythe processor, that at least one of the temporal gradients encoded inthe at least one spatiotemporal histogram have values representingcontinuous changes of position of the first low-level feature.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the step iii) determining is performedaccording to at least one predetermined continuity criteria.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the plurality of images depict at least aportion of the user's periocular region, eyes and face, and wherein theplurality of images are captured in at least one light spectrum selectedfrom a group consisting of: visible light, near infra-red light, andinfra-red light.
 13. The method of claim 2, further comprising: o)generating, by the processor, a second biometric identifier usable todetermine liveness of the user; and wherein the step f) determiningfurther comprises: p) comparing, by the processor, the first biometricidentifier to the second biometric identifier.
 14. The method of claim13, wherein the step o) generating comprises: q) capturing, by theprocessor and a microphone communicatively coupled to the processor, anaudio data file including a recording of the user's voice; and r)generating, by the processor from the audio data file, a voice printusable to determine liveness of the user.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein the step g) authenticating further comprises: s) comparing, bythe processor, at least a portion of the biometric identifier to thesecond biometric identifier; and t) determining, by the processor, thatthe biometric identifier and the second biometric identifier match to aprescribed degree.
 16. The method of claim 2, wherein the step g)authenticating further comprises: u) comparing, by the processor, atleast a portion of the biometric identifier to at least one previouslygenerated biometric identifier; and v) determining, by the processor,that the biometric identifier and the at least one previously generatedbiometric identifier match to a prescribed degree.
 17. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: w) capturing, by the mobile device, atleast one image depicting an object, wherein the object is an objectknown to the user, and wherein at least one previously captured image ofthe object is stored on the storage medium; and wherein the step g)authenticating further comprises: x) determining, by the processor, thatthe at least one image depicting the object and the at least onepreviously captured image of the object match to a prescribed degree.18. The method of claim 1, further comprising: y) capturing, by theprocessor using one or more sensors, non-machine-vision basedinformation; and wherein the step g) of authenticating furthercomprises: z) comparing, by the processor, the non-machine vision basedinformation to pre-defined behavioral characteristics stored on thestorage medium; and aa) determining, by the processor, that thenon-machine vision based information is consistent with the pre-definedbehavioral characteristics to a prescribed degree.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, wherein the non-machine-vision based information includes atleast one of: a time received from an on-board clock; a locationreceived from a GPS sensor; a distance from the user's face to thecamera calculated from one or more of the plurality of images; adistance from the user's face to the mobile device from an on-boardproximity measuring device; an orientation of the mobile device receivedfrom an accelerometer; an acceleration of the mobile device receivedfrom an accelerometer; an RF radiation signature received from an RFradiation detector; a position or orientation of the mobile devicereceived from a gravity magnetometer; and a light signature receivedfrom a light intensity detector.
 20. A system for authenticating a useraccording to the user's biometric features, comprising: a computingdevice having a processor, a computer-readable storage medium,instructions in the form of at least one software module stored on thestorage medium, comprising: a biometric capture module that executes soas to configure the processor to cause a camera in communication withthe processor to capture a plurality of images, wherein the plurality ofimages depict at least one facial region of the user; an analysis modulethat executes so as to configure the processor to detect low-levelfeatures depicted in a first of the plurality of images, determine fromthe first image a first position of a first low-level feature relativeto at least one other low-level feature, determine a at least one secondrespective position of the first low-level feature in each of at leastone other image of the plurality of images, calculate changes inposition of the first low-level feature, generate a biometric identifieruseable to determine liveness for the user as a function of the firstposition and the calculated changes in position of the first low-levelfeature; and a biometric authentication module that executes so as toconfigure the processor to authenticate the user by comparing thebiometric identifier to at least one previously generated biometricidentifier.